When you first start doing sports, you want to give your most because your fitness goals include instant results:

You want to lose twenty pounds in one week

Look like Schwarzenegger after only two workouts

Have the body of a supermodel four days after revamping your nutrition

Have Ronaldo’s abs and KimKardashian’s buttocks…

But as the weeks pass and you don’t notice any change… Your motivation goes down and you lose any interest in going to the gym.

But rather than drag yourself over to a fitness studio, why not engage a personal trainer instead? An exercise program supervised by a certified personal trainer can make a difference. Your personal fitness coach will be there to give you the keys you will need to attain your goals and make sure you stay motivated.

A gym personal trainer may help get you motivated, but you still have to go to the fitness centre every day. So why not look up the trainers here on Superprof instead? They will come to your home, reschedule after a cancellation so you don’t lose a session, and get you ready to start losing weight, tackle interval training, and leave you enjoying your new sports so much you look forward to your next training session.

Pricing varies according to the region, but many of our fitness trainers offer savings for more than 10 sessions or offer the first session for free.

Once you’ve decided to start a training program with a fitness trainer, you will soon feel your body change and notice real progress toward your fitness goals.

Your muscles will be better toned, more firm and you will have adopted healthy nutritional habits, making you feel better about your body.

During your one on one sessions, you will be able to ask your coach questions. He will help you identify your strong and weak points and better help you understand your progression. Many personal trainers are therapists, too, as your mental health will affect your physical performance. Sometimes just having someone to chat with does wonders in focusing your energies and helping you achieve a more confident outlook – thus increasing your performance.

This article can help you with a few tips to make the most out of your work out with your personal fitness specialist.

The Right Music for Your Personal Training Sessions

Music will help you stay motivated and forget the pain in your muscles.

Music plays an important role in our daily lives. Every day, we see dozens of people listening to music during their daily commute.

In sports, it’s the same.

Athletes often use music when doing high-intensity training.

Music can help you stay in rhythm for cardio or aerobic training programs. Your boxing workouts can also benefit from the right music to keep those jabs coming strong!
Marathon runners will find that music will help them keep their rhythm and make the long stretches seem shorter.

Various studies have shown that running to music helps increase performance. One study by a British university proved that, out of 20 twenty-year-old athletes running a 400 m sprint, those listening to music performed better.

Running while listening to music can improve your performance. Photo credit: heikkisiltala on VisualHunt.com

In a 1991 study, two American scientists proved that slower, more lyrical music helped improve performance in endurance sports.

Americans Anshel and Marisi did another test on bikes that proved that music synchronised to their pedalling helped their endurance better than unsynchronised music.

So don’t hesitate to put on some music during your personal training sessions!

On the lookout for the perfect playlist for your workout routine?

Here is a list of some tunes you might want to have playing through your earphones or on your stereo while you get fit with your in-home workout plan:

“Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor

“Dirty Diana” by Michael Jackson

“Intro” by The XX

“Thunderstruck” by AC/DC

“Lose Yourself” by Eminem

“Been Through the Storm” by Busta Rhymes

“Family Affair” by Mary J. Blige

“Starships” by Nicki Minaj

“Where are Ü Now” by Krillex and Diplo (feat. Justin Bieber)

“The Final Countdown” by Europe

Do You Really Need To Stretch Before or After a Workout Session?

It is imperative that you stretch after each training session.

But should you stretch during a workout? This question has long been debated in the world of sports!

But first, let’s look at the reasons for stretching and why it is part of working out.

Stretching is meant to:

Stretch out the muscle and lengthen it

Help you recuperate

Help preserve your physical health by preventing injuries and stiffness

But several studies have shown that it’s preferable to wait about a quarter of an hour after your fitness routine to stretch.

During this period of recuperation, your trainer can show you the stretches you will be doing:

Back stretches. For example, the Yoga pose called the Seated Forward Bend, or Paschimottansana: you are seated with your legs stretched out before you and try to touch your toes while keeping your legs straight. Your personal trainer can exercise slight pressure on your back to help you stretch as far as you can go.

Biceps stretch: bend your right arm back next to your ear so your hand is resting between your shoulder blades. Push on your right elbow with your left hand.

Calf stretch: facing a wall, put your left leg forward while bending your knee. You can brace against the wall with your hands. You should feel the back of your right calf stretching.

These stretches will be done after your personalized fitness program with your instructor.

However, many studies show that it’s best not to do short, intensive stretches (only a few seconds) before a sports sessions, whether it be resistance training, circuit training, or even group fitness events.

Whether you are trying to burn fat, gain muscle mass or prepare for a sports competition, the rule is simple: stretching should be done slowly and carefully and at the end of a workout session.

You can warm up with your personal training assistant at the beginning of your session. But don’t try to mobilize your muscles too rapidly.

“The studies are unanimous: you shouldn’t stretch before doing sports. Why? First, because it doesn’t reduce the risk of muscle injury; on the contrary, it increases it,” Stéphane Demorand, physiotherapist, explained to the French paper Le Point.

How To Evaluate Your Performance and Progress with Your Personal Trainer

A regular fitness assessment is one of the many perks of working with a personal trainer.

But knowing how to evaluate yourself will help you to progress even more in the long run!

Evaluating your performance will let you see what gains you have achieved, how much you have to do and help you look forward to your next training session.

Measure your progress

One way to stay in touch with your body is to measure yourself every month: around your arms, buttocks, hips… It’s often hard to see weight loss (or muscle gain) with the naked eye, but the numbers never lie!

Your fitness specialist can help you measure your muscles. He or she can help you find out if your fat loss or mass gain goals are being met and adjust the intensity of your customized personal training program to compensate. Measuring your progress is part of his job description!

You can also take pictures of yourself. It’s difficult to judge your appearance in a mirror. You will not be able to see your back or your buttocks properly. Instead, ask your coach to take pics of you from every angle at regular intervals.

One on one fitness evaluation with your trainer

You can also trust in your personal trainer’s fitness evaluation. Your fitness coach has an expert eye and enough experience to be a good judge of your body weight and level of fitness. He’ll know if you’ve reached a plateau you simply need to push past or if you should go into full bootcamp mode to get that body fat burning.

If you like, he or she can set up a little consultation every two weeks with a weigh-in, measuring and a little conditioning test… He can keep track of your progress in a notebook and adjust your custom tailored training schedule and give you tips on nutrition and lifestyle.

Switch it up

In fact, consider changing your training program regularly to help you progress. You might, for example, switch from boxing to Pilates for a few weeks, or try out interval training before going back to normal aerobics or Yoga. Surprising your body regularly and challenging it in new ways will help you burn fat and build muscle more effectively.

Get connected

To progress, why not enjoy a free consultation with your phone or other connected devices? There are fitness watches, intelligent shoes or fitness apps that will teach you to be confident in your abilities to reach your goals.

Use modern technology such as fitness apps to track your progress. Photo on Visualhunt

Technology has well and truly found its place in the health and fitness branch.

Connected devices will be able to:

Calculate your heart rate

Tell you how many calories you burn

Calculate how many steps you take or how many kilometres you have walked, run or cycled

Show you various different exercises for muscle building, body sculpting or yoga

Plan your meals so can eat healthily without going on one of those fad diets of two carrot sticks and a shake a day

You can (and should) share the information from your electronic devices with your personal trainer. He or she has the certification to help you interpret their data and use it to adjust his own coaching sessions to your needs: for example, add more cardio exercises to get your pulse up or tone down your training sessions to prevent over-exhaustion.